Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus sinuata

huckleberry oak

bastard oak, bastard white oak, Durand oak, Durand white oak
Habit Shrubs, low spreading to often prostrate, to 1.5 m. Twigs branching at 45° angles or less, reddish brown, 1-1.5 mm diam., flexible, glabrous to sparsely pubesent. Trees or shrubs, deciduous, to 15(-20) m, with solitary or multiple trunks.
Bark

gray to light brown, flaky to papery and exfoliating.
Twigs

light gray or gray, 1-2(-3) mm diam., glabrous, rarely minutely puberulent.
Buds

brown or reddish brown, broadly ovoid, 2-3 mm, essentially glabrous.
Leaves

blade oblong-ovate, 10-35 × 7-15 mm, flat, thin, leathery, base slightly rounded to acute, secondary veins inconspicuous, 6-8 pairs, branching at 45-60° angles, with weakly thickened cell walls, margins entire or indistinctly and irregularly mucronately toothed, apex acute or rarely obtuse;

surfaces abaxially whitish green with waxy layer, glabrous or slightly pubescent with stellate hairs, adaxially dull gray-green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with stellate hairs.

blade oblong to oblanceolate, or narrowly rhomboid, or cuneiform, or rounded-3-dentate, (25-)30-120(-140) × (15-)25-60 mm, base acute, cuneate, attenuate-rounded, or obtuse, margins entire to irregularly toothed or moderately, sinuately lobed, flat, secondary veins ca. 7-11 on each side, apex broadly rounded, rarely attenuately narrowed or obscurely 3-lobed;

surfaces abaxially silvery or dull green, with scattered to crowded, minute, appressed-stellate, 8-10-rayed hairs, or glabrate or glabrous, especially in shade forms, adaxially green or dull green, glabrous.
Acorns

solitary or rarely paired;

cup shallowly saucer-shaped to slightly turbinate, 3-4 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, scales appressed, slightly embedded, moderately silvery brown-pubescent;

nut ovoid, 8-17 × 5-10 mm, apex acute;

nut scar to 3 mm diam.

solitary or paired, subsessile or on axillary peduncle to 1-7 mm;

cup saucer-shaped to shallowly cup-shaped, rarely deeper, 2-8 mm deep × 8-15(-20) mm wide, enclosing 1/8-1/4 nut, rarely more, base flat, rounded, or constricted, margin thin, scales closely appressed, grayish with reddish margins, ovate, flat, obtuse, not tuberculate;

nut light brown, depressed-ovoid to oblong, 7-15 × 7-12(-17) mm, glabrous.
Cotyledons

distinct.
Terminal

buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins.

Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus sinuata
Phenology Flowering in early summer.
Habitat Dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from montane coniferous zone to near treeline
Elevation 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Typical high-elevation populations in the Sierra Nevada of California can be distinguished from all shrubby forms of Quercus chrysolepis by the absence of glandular trichomes and by thin cups with small nut-attachment scars. At lower elevations in northern California and southwestern Oregon, secondary contact with Q. chrysolepis has resulted in the formation of hybrids.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

The question of the correct name for this species has persisted, with some authors rejecting the usage here in favor of Quercus durandii. Although no type material is extant, the original description of Q. sinuata is consistent with the concept presented here, as by W. W. Ashe (1916) and W. Trelease (1924), and inconsistent with any other oak from the broad area covered by Thomas Walter's Flora Caroliniana (1788).

The two varieties differ in habit, habitat, leaf size and lobing, and geographic range, and considerable variability exists within both varities as to the degree and density of silvery stellate-pubescence on the abaxial surface of the leaf. Sun leaves of both tend to have a higher proportion of silvery pubescence, and shade leaves and some individual trees tend to have more glabrate leaves, although evidence of flat-stellate trichomes is usually apparent. Plants with young, expanding leaves sometimes are mistaken for Quercus nigra, a member of the red oak group.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Trees to 20 m, trunk usually solitary; moist bottomlands and riparian habitats.
var. sinuata
1. Shrubs or small trees to 3(–5) m, often forming thickets, trunks multiple from near ground; dry limestone hills.
var. breviloba
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Protobalanus Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus
Sibling taxa
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Subordinate taxa
Q. sinuata var. breviloba, Q. sinuata var. sinuata
Synonyms Q. durandii
Name authority Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) Walter: Fl. Carol., 235. (1788)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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